Stephen Curry (30) is defended against by Matt Barnes (22) and Chris Paul (3) in the second half as the Clippers defeated the Warriors 98-96. The Golden State Warriors played the Los Angeles Clippers at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, April 24, 2014, in Game 3 of the first-round playoff series.

For far too long, the atmosphere wasn't quite as advertised. Not even close. There was palpable apprehension inside Oracle Arena on Thursday night as the Warriors took a disheartening Game 3 loss to the Clippers that was all about the lamentable absence of Stephen Curry, and by the time he showed up, it wasn't enough.

With 5:40 left in the game, Curry was 2-for-7 from the floor and 0-for-4 from three-point range. That's how this night will be remembered, and for the third straight game, he hasn't delivered the kind of performance that earned him the deepest respect around the league.

There's still time, with the Warriors facing a Game 4 on Sunday that they cannot afford to lose. Simply put, though, these weren't the Warriors who thrilled fans to the point of delirium over the past two seasons. The team had a distinctly different look from the very beginning, and it had an unsettling effect on a yellow-clad, sellout crowd that wound up trudging slowly for the exits.

Wondering, no doubt, why Curry had so little to offer.

It seems that, for the moment, the Warriors have lost their identity. Just as Montana-to-Rice defined the old-school 49ers and the Giants' pitching carried them to two World Series titles, the essence of the Warriors is the type of long-range shooting that soothes a fan's heart and buckles an opponent's spirit.

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"I understand the love affair with our guards shooting the basketball," coach Mark Jackson said before the game. "But to me, that's not how we win games. We do that when we defend at a high level."

It's a noble premise, infallible in its way, but not when Curry hasn't made a single basket with two minutes left in the first half, when Curry and Klay Thompson combine for just 11 points to that point, and when the team misses 25 of its 31 shots from three-point range for the game.

Thompson eventually caught fire and finished with 26 points, to go with soul-satisfying efforts from Andre Iguodala and Draymond Green. But nobody can look at the final box score - Curry shooting 5-for-12 from the floor, barely recognizable until a pair of desperation baskets in the frantic final moments - without realizing that a vital piece was missing.

Ever stoic, revealing only a trace of frustration, Curry sat at his locker after the game and refused to acknowledge that this game was all about him. That's how the team players operate, admirably, and he wasn't about to call this loss a disaster.

"There's going to be a lot of emphasis on how I didn't get a lot of shots, but that stuff doesn't matter in the playoffs," he said. "You have to find a way to win. I think they're playing me more aggressively than they did in the regular season, but I thought we had a lot of great looks, some solid offensive possessions. Our offense is fine."

The late Chick Hearn, fabled voice of the Los Angeles Lakers, was fond of saying "You can't stop the great ones." He was talking about Jerry West, Michael Jordan and Larry Bird, but you'd imagine him making that call to describe Curry's epic performances in recent years. Nobody stops Curry once he gets rolling. The beauty of his shot becomes an otherworldly phenomenon, something to which few players in history can relate.

The curious thing about Thursday night is that the Clippers backed off the swarming traps and double-teams they employed in Los Angeles. They gave him a bit more space, usually defending him with just one person, primarily Chris Paul and Darren Collison. "But there was a lot of contact," said Curry. "Once you get around that first guy on the pick-and-roll - I got hit a lot. Got a little iffy at times."

In the wake of Game 2, a 40-point Clippers blowout, some found it impressive that Curry had exposed a rare fit of temper, firing his mouthpiece to the ground after being flung to the court without penalty. "Maybe he should get mad more often," they said.

Wrong. That's not how Curry operates. It was Green who changed the mood of Thursday night's game with his hard fouls, clutch shots and feisty trash-talking, and it seemed that the whole crazy pattern might work when Curry, two defenders rushing him, hit a three-pointer that found him flat on his back with 11 seconds left. But when it came down to the final shot - Curry against Paul, the classic point-guard confrontation - Paul's tough defense forced Curry into a shot even he couldn't hit.

Was he fouled? "I thought so," Curry said. "You're not allowed to bump a guy when he's jumping in the air for a shot, and that's what happened. But it wasn't called. I'm not gonna overreact to it."

Their only reaction now is to win. Sunday becomes the composite of a season.